Temptation!

More than once curiosity has almost killed this cat! Just yesterday, in fact, I received an unexpected instant message. It just popped up on the monitor while I was writing something very spiritual. I don't know how IT found me or where IT came from. IT splashed bold letters across my screen which flashed and pulsated like some strobe light in a discotheque. I want you know that I have never been to a disco but someone described it to me, once - way back when!

Hypnotically pulsating and burning its way right into my brain - the message said:

"You have nine people from your High School who have signed your guest book!"

Then, right in front of my eyes was a page from a real bona fide guest book - the kind you see at weddings and funerals. On it were nine, yep 9, signatures that were almost readable. However, each one had been ever so slightly smudged or blotted out. "Darn!" I squinted and strained my eyes but even with my new super dooper gooney guy old man trifocals I couldn't decipher a one of them. I even tried using the ZOOM on my tool bar but the signitures were still unreadable. Then the message continued:

Do you want to know who has signed your guest book?
Two people shared something new in the last month!
Wouldn't you like to reconnect with old friends?
Want to find out who is thinking of you?
Aren't you curious who they are?
One has left a note for you!

Whew ! Now that's what I call temptation, brother! Why just the other night I was wondering if I would ever make it back for a reunion. The Devil really knows how, where and when to hit us. He takes the gloves off and there are no Marquess of Queensbury rules, either! Even low blows are allowed!

Immediately, as though I was having some mystical out of body experience, I began to effortlessly drift upward, outward and back in time. I found myself deep in thought - captivated by those old memories. I thought to myself:

One has left a note for you!

"I wonder who it was? Could it be?? No, that's not possible - I heard he was dead. Maybe it was that cheerleader that I was too shy to talk to!!! Wow! I wonder whatever became of her? What was her name anyway? Barbie?..."

(A note to the reader: Please don't tell my wife about this or I'll be in some pretty hot water)

Then the sign strobed in bright glittering gold letters!

Upgrade to a Gold Membership and find out who!
only 29.95
click Here

I stiffened in my chair. My body was tense and taut. My mouse finger began to spasm and twitch uncontrollably. Just then it seemed as though I heard a subtle seductive voice whisper, "I'm Just A Click AWAY"...

For a moment I was frozen and I was seized with panic.! What should I do? It wasn't easy but with all my might I continued to resist - my right hand clutching my Microsoft mouse. A couple of times my other hand began to inch, ever so carefully, towards my credit card but each time - I used the name of Jesus and it retracted. Then suddenly, I heard a voice in my mind:

NO! NO! NO! Georgie!!!

It sounded like my mother's voice - when I was a little kid! "Mom?" I was so startled that I flew straight up into the air! Immediately the trance was broken. I was free and in my right mind! My wife says, "the right mind is part is debatable." Oh well. Hallelujah anyway!

Although I resisted, this time, I know too well that in the heat of the battle it's not easy to keep a cool head. So, when I settled down a bit I thought about what had just transpired. I almost gave in! I gave a sigh of relief. Now becalmed, my rational mind realized that if anyone from High School was still looking for me, it must be because I owed them money - probably from lunch! How much it might be I couldn't know, but given the power of compounded interest over 43 years - it could be a very substantial sum! You see as a kid, my family was not very well off and I couldn't afford to buy school lunches and those peanut butter and bologna sandwiches I took every day got old - real old - fast! So once in awhile I'd borrow a nickel here, a dime there occasionally even a quarter for some real lunch. Doesn't sound like much money by today's standards but it adds up! You've got to understand that back then a Hershey bar was only a nickel and gasoline was only 17.9 cents a gallon!

Anyway, as a result of what happened, I realized just how very subtle and sneaky the enemy is. But I felt proud and affirmed! I hollered at the top of my lungs:

"Go on and run you pesky devil! Get out of here and don't come back! You can't fool me.
I got you this time!!!"

I felt wonderful! Glorious! Invigorated and Victorious! I felt I had really gotten my revenge for the last time HE showed up - but I don't want to talk about that now. You know, I just remembered an old Klingon proverb that pretty much sums up my feelings on the matter.

"Revenge is a dish that is best served cold!"

I don't quite understand what that means but it sure sounds and feels good. I also remember something that my brother James wrote in one of his letters It's a goldie oldie. James says,

"Submit yourselves to God.
Resist the devil and he will flee from you."

Do you know what? It works. Isn't that amazing!